Formation Journal Reading Plan

1:1 Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.

1:2 Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households.

1:3 So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness.

1:4 But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

1:5 Moreover the bronze altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh: and Solomon and the assembly were seeking counsel there.

1:6 Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

1:7 In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.”

1:8 Solomon said to God, “You have shown great loving kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place.

1:9 Now, Yahweh God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

1:10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this your people, that is so great?”

1:11 God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of those who hate you, neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king:

1:12 wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you; neither shall there any after you have the like.”

1:13 So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

1:14 Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

1:15 The king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

1:16 The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue; the king’s merchants purchased them from Kue.

1:17 They brought up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means.

2:1 Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

2:2 Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

2:3 Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.

2:4 Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

2:5 “The house which I build is great; for our God is great above all gods.

2:6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

2:7 “Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

2:8 “Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with your servants,

2:9 even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

2:10 Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”

2:11 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.”

2:12 Huram continued, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

2:13 Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father’s,

2:14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

2:15 “Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants:

2:16 and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”

2:17 Solomon numbered all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

2:18 He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

10:1 Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

10:2 In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

10:3 For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy, and condemns Yahweh.

10:4 The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.

10:5 His ways are prosperous at all times. He is haughty, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

10:6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble.”

10:7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

10:8 He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.

10:9 He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.

10:10 The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength.

10:11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”

16:11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;

16:12 and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.

16:13 On the Sabbath day we went forth outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together.

16:14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.

16:15 When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.

16:16 It happened, as we were going to prayer, that a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.

16:17 Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!”

16:18 She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.

16:19 But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

16:20 When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city,

16:21 and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”

16:22 The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

16:23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,

16:24 who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.

16:25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

16:26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened.

16:27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”

16:29 He called for lights and sprang in, and, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas,

16:30 and brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

16:31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

16:32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.

16:33 He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.

16:34 He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.

16:35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.”

16:36 The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out, and go in peace.”

16:37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”

16:38 The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,

16:39 and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.

16:40 They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.